Techfugees Kenya 🇰🇪

🇰🇪 Techfugees KENYA 🇰🇪

In 2020 Kenya hosted about 500 000 registered refugees on its territory. 84% of them lived in camps (Daadab, Kakuma).

Techfugees’ local chapter in Kenya, started in early 2017. After a successful hackathon in partnership with the Kenya Red Cross around health in Kakuma camp, Mary and Philomena, our new co-leads picked up the torch in June 2020. The team of volunteer is now focussing on facilitating access to health and education in camps and urban settlements through the deployment of digital products and services. 🏥

Kakuma refugee health

HEALTH

We support refugees & organisations looking to access the resources they need from the tech & entrepreneurial communities. Since 2019 we collaborated with the Kenya Red Cross society and a volunteer group of developers, Faceless Hackers, to bring a digital product facilitating sanitary alerts in refugee settlements from ideation to the pilot in Kakuma: E-heatlh watch. This project, now led by the KRCS Innovation department is scaling in urban settlements in Kenya. 

Capture d’écran 2021-08-05 à 15.09.52

EDUCATION

We source innovative responsible digital services internationally and help with their local deployment to answer challenges faced by displaced persons in Kenya. In this regard we launched the #KnowledgeisFreedom campaign to support access to education in refugee camps and urban settlements. By partnering with offline solutions like Buffalo Grid and Endless OS, we facilitate connections with local stakeholders (schools, NGOs…) to adapt solutions to the local needs (needs assessment, device distributions, user testing, live demo, translation…). 

BEST PRACTICES

We share our insights with a wider community (conferences & think-tanks) to inform on most pressing issues and needs on the ground. This paves the way for a better understanding & more relevant tech solutions.

Learn more

⏮ Have a look at Techfugees Guiding Principles Framework and participate by sharing your insights

⏮ Check our Chapters video conferences available on Youtube

Find out more about our activities

Our TEAM

We are 100% volunteers. If you’d like to join our ranks, consider applying

Mary MUNYOKI, Chapter Lead

Mary Munyoki is a technology innovation and entrepreneurship enthusiast with a passion to empower displaced and marginalised youth and women in relation to technology for development. Her specialities are in strategic project management, business development, human resources, multi-stakeholder partnerships, policy engagement and programs operation. Get in touch with Mary Linkedin

John MONYCHIRIN, Community Outreach

John studied Bachelors of Information Technology at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. "I am hardworking and committed individual who is able to work well as part of team as well as own initiative. I am passionate to empower the livelihood of displaced people in Kakuma refugee camp through technology.My specialists are in Networking, Front End developer, Database Management, IT support and Maintenance. Taught in kakuma Refugee camp as secondary school teacher under Windle International Kenya. Volunteered with a team to develop School Management Information System for Nakuru Vocationary Training Centre."

Havi MURUNGI, Senior Design Researcher

Dr Havi Murungi is a Social Researcher and Information Designer with a bias for Ethnographic Research Strategies and Co-Creative Design Processes. This is not how it started though – trained as a graphic designer, he was intrigued by how people understood symbols and other visual communication artefacts so took the postgraduate route to finding this out. He has a PhD in Visual Communication and MA in Graphic & Information Design from De Montfort University, UK, and a BA (Hons) in Design from University of Nairobi, Kenya. He has transitioned between academia and industry for much of his working life – teaching Design Management at University of Nairobi and Visual Communication at Brunel University, UK, University of Pretoria, South Africa, and Technical University of Kenya as well as being Research Director and Executive Director at Consumer Insight, Nairobi. He now runs his own Social Research and Information Design practice, Havis. Over the last two decades, he has conducted research in the following areas in Eastern, Southern and Western Africa: mobile and banking services; media and communication; agricultural value chains; early childhood and youth segments; social and humanitarian issues; vehicles and mobility; domestic appliances and consumer goods; haircare; retail, water and energy sectors. He helped found Tafaria cHub (now Tafaria Museum & Centre for the Arts – TMCA) in 2013 and directed its artists-in-residence programme until 2020. The centre is a social enterprise based at Tafaria Castle in rural Kenya whose goal is to explore unconventional approaches to developmental challenges by deploying visual and performing artists, craftspeople, designers, writers and other creative practitioners and postgraduate students as agents of socio-economic, cultural and environmental transformation. The centre has, to date, hosted over 40 artists-in-residence from around the world in this endeavour and was the initiative which got him into the Acumen Fellowship programme in 2015.

Aisha Fadallala , Community outreach Kakuma

Aisha comes from the northern part of Sudan, a country that is yet to make any advancement in the field of Technology. Aisha is a self-driven software developer, she strongly believes through her tech skills she is able to contribute and solve pressing sole issues affecting her community. She continues to grow and expand her scope of tech knowledge while developing applications.

And our former crew members

🙏 We would also like to thank Aya Ragheb and Beryl Onyango who used to take care of comms, Philomena Mwangi who was Techfugees Kenya Chapter Co-lead, Priscilla Queirolo who was Techfugees’ Regional Development Volunteer in Africa based in Nairobi during the first months of 2019 as well as Benjamin Hounsell who led Techfugees in Kenya since day one.

Gemma MAY, Voluntary Fundraising Manager

Gemma is an experienced partnerships and fundraising expert who has worked in the UK and East Africa for over 10 years for NGOs, start ups and education institutions. She has raised over $25 million through foundations and private companies and has extensive knowledge on setting up sustainable fundraising strategies and partnerships. She became involved in refugee projects and saw how technology was a game changer to the lives and opportunities of refugees and displaced people. She is passionate about helping refugees get all the access and opportunities they need to change their own lives.

Dominic KIMATHI, Project Manager

Dominic is a Project Management Consultant and Country Rep for Field Buzz in Nairobi,Kenya. When he's not busy coordinating projects with software developers in Germany & Bangladesh, he's busy organizing intimate, acoustic gigs as the City Co-Lead and Partnerships & Logistics Liason at Sofar Sounds Nairobi. Furthermore, he's the New Sponsor and Sponsorship Relations Coordinator at Project Management Institute, Kenyan Chapter. In addition to that, he's in the SDSN Youth Committee of The Great Lakes Region as well as an Advocate of the Global Schools Program.Other than that, in his free time he plants trees and teaches primary kids how to grow and preserve tree nurseries with Miti Alliance. He's also a mentor with Tim Aridi Foundation.

Abri Yusuf, Community Outreach

Abri joined Techfugees Kenya in 2020. He has a refugee background and is based in Kakuma, as TF Kenya ambassador. He studied Information Technology at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology(JKUAT). "I am currently giving back to my fellow refugees, teaching my fellow youth how to code using html, css and JavaScript. Apart from that am also teaching basic computer packages."

Devika SINGH, Impact and Project Manager

Over the last 10 years, Devika has been investigating the field of migration through different geographies and cultural lenses. In India, she worked on the topic of forced displacement caused by industrial projects and its impact on gender dynamics within households. In Europe, she has focused on migrants and refugees and how organizations seeking new players in the areas of business, entrepreneurship, public leadership, and media & arts can benefit from this talent flow. Personally, Devika is interested to understand the flow that migration – both voluntary and forced – creates in individual lives and the diverse ways in which individuals transform in new territories. Her work has helped her build skills in diverse contexts: project management, leadership training, strategic foresight, entrepreneurial development, innovation training, economic empowerment, and future-facing partnerships for diversity and inclusion. This is based on strong theoretical footing across disciplines - social sciences, design and business. A literature aficionado, Devika holds a bachelors in English Literature from Delhi University. She speaks fluent Hindi, English and French and believes that literature and art reveals the ethos of culture and influences the society’s reflection on it. She lives in Nairobi with her husband and daughter and is presently working on a book.

Pascal DIGNY, Social media and Communications Manager

Pascal Digny, is a tech enthusiast passionate about contributing to business and community development activities.  He possesses diverse skills in digital media, including coding, web development, content creation, IT, and social media management. Pascal's drive to succeed is fuelled by his refugee status, which has motivated him to establish his first marketing agency, FlashRankMedia.  His B2B marketing agency specializes in helping small B2C businesses increase their sales through digital marketing and sales automation. In addition to his marketing agency, Pascal founded HousesForSale, a revolutionary real estate marketplace connecting local buyers with sellers in Kenya.  This innovative platform has transformed the real estate industry, providing an easy and efficient way to navigate the complex property buying and selling world. Pascal is a proactive individual with a strong work ethic who values teamwork and believes in peace, unity, teamwork, Honesty, and integrity are fundamental values that he firmly upholds. As a member of the Techfugees team, Pascal is dedicated to promoting Techfugees' mission and raising awareness of their activities.  His marketing strategies have helped the team reach a wider audience and make a more significant impact, focusing on driving change and creating opportunities for success for displaced people both in and beyond Kenya.

Our ECOSYSTEM partners

We engage with a variety of organisations to contribute & bring meaningful tech solutions for and with refugees. Click on the logos below and discover how we worked with them in the past.
Email us directly at kenya@techfugees.com
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